Twin Earthquakes Devastate Southeast Türkiye and Syria: First Report from the Epicenters

In early February, 2023, southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria were hit by a series of deadly earthquakes (two of them above magnitude 7.5) that are proving to be one of the most sig-nificant earthquake disasters of this century. These "twin quakes" caused a large number of casualties and property losses. As of press time, the death toll in Türkiye and Syria has sur-passed 51000 and the number of injured has surpassed 120000, with the number affected >13.5 million. The toll is constantly rising and the hope of finding more survivors has rapidly faded. The USGS PAGER (United States Geological Survey, Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquake for Response) service esti-mates economic losses of 10–100 billion US dollars.